Why You Should Charge Your Friends/Family to Stay on Your Points!

[MEM]

I could see charging friends/family for points if they asked me to use my DVC points. What I usually get is "we'd like to stay in your timeshare if you're not using it" - I try to explain that I am not locked into a particular week or weeks. They lose interest at that point.

If I invited them to join me on a DVC vacation and they are the type who might cancel, I would be prepared to enjoy roomier accommodations than the studio my family usually stays in. I guess I'm lucky in that most of my extended family (siblings and their spouses) have no interest in staying at DVC WITH me but INSTEAD of me!!

 

[goldilocks_63]

After once being left high and dry, if I want company I invite 3 or people at the same time, and tell them the first person to buy plane tickets gets the reservation.

Surprisingly, most people hesitate and then are surprised it is no longer available....

but I have found another mom, with kids my daughters age, who makes up her mind in a week, so she has gone twice.

And we get along well... so works out well. My other friend, keeps asking when she can go.... and I tell her I'll let her know next time there's a spot.... but each time, she doesn't commit.....

My points are too valuable to leave open in case someone might decide they want to come.

JMHO, GOldi

SO it's first come, first serve for me

 

[Arthur27]

So far my experiences have mostly been positive, Last year I took my family to HH without my Dsis and her fam. She kept stalling to make a commitment so I gave here deadline and that was that. Now she regrets not going.

Have any of you experienced this: I gave my brother-in-law a night at SSP for X-mas for him and his wife. My wife went over to their house to watch the kids thinking they'll be back by 1 only to find they were staying longer. That's our fault since we didn't discus what time they were planning on returning and you know what you get when you assume. Well when they did get back they had the audacity to say they didn't really like it! I appreciate their honesty but do you tell the people that got it for you and watched ALL your kids? I thought that was a bit rude. So a new rule for me and the wife is that if we book a room for someone we will not watch their kids. And they better lie to me if they didn't like it!

 

[*Valdez*]

We have about 12 total going with us in June. So far only 3 have purchased their flights. I told them if they do not purchase their flights by March 15th and let me know their room will be canceled. the one thing i HATE the most is my DSIL assuming she can use our points when ever she wishes. She always says when she takes her DD to the world we can get the room for her. I DON'T THINK SO! My response to this was "when you pay the morgage you can use the points at your disposal." She didn't comment after that.

 

[hsmamato2]

I know this concept OP talks about..... I help run a homeschool group,and over the years I've led MANY activities,and learned years ago to charge a fee for signing up,non refundable. Otherwise people don't place a value on said activity,and blow it off at the last minute.
Even if it's just a small fee,it helps to sort out those who arent't truly interested,I could see the same thing working for just about anything.....though I've been lucky,and a family member has always shared DVC points with us freely,and we LOVE it! But in general,it is true,folks seem to value what they have to pay for.....

 

[jimmytammy]

Makes perfect sense. We offered my DS and her family a week stay at a DVC resort. Their 2 sons were wanting to go so bad. They can afford the tickets and meals, so that wasnt the case. They were all prepared, and backed out right before I made the call for ressies. I told them the offer stood always. And they many times let us use their beach house. I would be crazy to back out.

My mom and dad have done the same thing, really on the fence leading up to time to buy flight tickets, all the while, ressies are already made.

So I guess its human nature. My feeling...dont look a gift horse in the mouth!

 

[mom2rb]

I charge some family members and I bring some for free. Grandmothers get to come for free. I want my kids to have those memories. My little brothers and DH's little sisters are in college, they can come for free for a few more years. I brought my nephew, but my older brother paid for all of his expenses.

In May I am taking my aunt, cousin and her two kids. I will use a two bedroom instead of a one bedroom. I will charge her the point difference. I rent out enough points to pay the airfare, tickets and food for my family. If I allowed most of my family to use my points for free, that would take away trips for my children.

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

I think most studies are a waste of money! Everyone, including family and friends that I have invited to share my DVC accomodations have accepted and been appreciative. No one has ever cancelled at the last minute or left me holdig the bag. By the same token, I don't extend an invitation to anyone that I don't like or enjoy spending time with. Furthermore, if I accept someones invitation to travel then I go, I dont' cancel at the last minute. I don't get it, what's so hard about committing to a vacation.

Short of illness or death, I don't get it!

OK, If everybody sends me $6.99 (cause $10 sounds like a lot and $7 still sounds like a lot), I am willing to perform a study on this phenomenon. I may even publish it on a blog or a website.

Here's the kicker, for every 20 payments I receive, I will randomly refund a undetermined amount of money to one or more of the participants, possibly.

 

[PEANUT1]

I am totally worried about this too...

We booked a treehouse villa for January 9-15th for my family of 4, MIL, SIL, BIL and their daughter...all total 8 people and 1 infant. I have a very strong feeling that the SIL and BIL will not come and then we will be in a huge space with just us....also the only reason we are going in January is to accomodate the inlaws school schedule..I would rather go in May.

I can't charge them because the timeshare was a "gift" from my MIL for all of us to use. I did tell SIL that we would split next years dues since they are coming on the trip. Normally we just pay them because we are the only ones that use the points.

I have a feeling that my husband is going to be doing all of the work in terms of planning, getting tickets, reservations, etc...and they won't come. We'll see.

 

[Goofy442]

I offered my sister and brother inlaw our DVC to go to Hawaii for their 25th anniversary. We were both married the same year so we will both be celebrating 25 years in 2012. We would love to go back to where we had our honeymoon. But they just can't think that far ahead. All they need to buy is their plane tickets and we would give them the points they need.

 

[Golden Rose]

We've had many, many family members and friends talk about going with us. (Seriously, I think we've had 7 families we're close to talk about joining us at some point...) We just joined last year, and I feel like we're suddenly the most popular family in Houston

I can't imagine charging our friends or family. Several of them wouldn't go if we didn't help by "paying for the room," and in a few cases, we'll probably have to buy the park tickets, too, if we want them to come. If someone offers to pay us, I guess we'll try to work something out so they don't feel uncomfortable. I'm more likely to suggest they pay for a couple of meals... or babysit while we go to V & A

I do understand the rationale behind valuing something more that you pay for, but I just can't get past asking guests to pay. I would only invite people to accompany us, not to use DVC without us, so we could share in the joy of experiencing WDW together. I don't plan to rent out our points, I plan to use them, and I enjoy myself more when I am with the people I love.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

I don't charge my family to go with us but I don't give them my points to use at their leisure either. We book our trip when we want to go and get a 2 bedroom booked. We tell them and if they want to go, we add their names and if they don't we invite friends to go with us. We are perfectly happy to go and use that space without them so it really doesn't matter. One trip we could only get a 1 bedroom and when the same family group asked if they could go we said, "Sure, but you'll have to get a room for you guys as we could only get a 1 bedroom." Since that trip, they have offered to buy all the food and for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip, they have offered to pay for our Thanksgiving meal as a thank you for letting them stay with us. So perhaps, them realizing how much money we save them has given them a bit more gratitude. It was not our intention, we share with them because we enjoy their company and they cannot afford it.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I am totally worried about this too...

We booked a treehouse villa for January 9-15th for my family of 4, MIL, SIL, BIL and their daughter...all total 8 people and 1 infant. I have a very strong feeling that the SIL and BIL will not come and then we will be in a huge space with just us....also the only reason we are going in January is to accomodate the inlaws school schedule..I would rather go in May.

I can't charge them because the timeshare was a "gift" from my MIL for all of us to use. I did tell SIL that we would split next years dues since they are coming on the trip. Normally we just pay them because we are the only ones that use the points.

I have a feeling that my husband is going to be doing all of the work in terms of planning, getting tickets, reservations, etc...and they won't come. We'll see.

If there's a way to get her to pay her share of next year's dues sooner, that would possibly give her a "sunk cost" feel to the experience.

At least since the DVC was a gift, you're not actually out any money if they bail-you're lucky, my MIL gives me novelty socks as gifts...

 

[photobob]

OP, the more you have invested the more interested you are, makes sense to me. I had never thought about in those terms, so thank you for the insight.

 

[robandkelly13]

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We invited all the family for this March indicating that this first trip would be on us and future ones we would rent the points if they wanted to go again. One group said thanks but no immediately because of health issues and we understand. We explained the deadlines clearly and gave a date for cancelling. The second group committed, bought airline tickets and are coming. The third group committed, but never bought tickets and now cancelled three weeks out. There are extenuating circumstances but I still think they cold have come. However, I can't force them to change their minds. I could no longer change the reservations, so we shifted around a bit but still are 'wasting points'. As far as I am concerned the third group used up their freebee. If they ask to come again, they will have to rent the points (at a reasonable cost, but still rent them)

 

[crisi]

We've had many, many family members and friends talk about going with us. (Seriously, I think we've had 7 families we're close to talk about joining us at some point...) We just joined last year, and I feel like we're suddenly the most popular family in Houston

I can't imagine charging our friends or family. Several of them wouldn't go if we didn't help by "paying for the room," and in a few cases, we'll probably have to buy the park tickets, too, if we want them to come. If someone offers to pay us, I guess we'll try to work something out so they don't feel uncomfortable. I'm more likely to suggest they pay for a couple of meals... or babysit while we go to V & A

I do understand the rationale behind valuing something more that you pay for, but I just can't get past asking guests to pay. I would only invite people to accompany us, not to use DVC without us, so we could share in the joy of experiencing WDW together. I don't plan to rent out our points, I plan to use them, and I enjoy myself more when I am with the people I love.

We've always provided the room, and in some cases airfare and park tickets for our guests. And our backouts have been reasonable (my sister got pregnant, then got cancer, and we had to postpone the trip - my other sister flaked out, but we expected her to so planned around it). But I CAN understand charging. Family dynamics (and friend dynamics) are really individual. And some people need to make the financial commitment to make the social commitment. If we had "extra" points and a friend who "invited themselves" I'd be more inclined to have them pay than the situation we've always had - which is us saying "why don't you come along."

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

OP, the more you have invested the more interested you are, makes sense to me. I had never thought about in those terms, so thank you for the insight.

You're welcome

The book, FWIW, is called "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely.

I read "Freakonomics" first, became completely engrossed in the idea that behaviors can be rationally predicted, and started reading everything I could get my hands on about behavioral economics.

Right now I'm reading "The Logic of Life." Also very cool and very interesting...

A really funny one was "Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters". While very entertaining, it leaned a lot more heavily on pop psychology than behavioral economics.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I am sure there is a group this applies to, but there are variables they didn't look at, and they are also using this study for theatre, which is significantly different then a vacation, which has a completely different perceived value.

From a statistics perspective, it fails miserable.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I am sure there is a group this applies to, but there are variables they didn't look at, and they are also using this study for theatre, which is significantly different then a vacation, which has a completely different perceived value.

From a statistics perspective, it fails miserable.

I'm not looking at statistics, I'm looking at human behavior, which can be generalized and extrapolated easily across different specifics, like, how you would behave towards a discounted theater ticket and how you would behave towards a discounted vacation are remarkably similar.

Game theory would indicate there are an infinite amount of variables one could attempt to apply, therefore it's pointless to even try and apply variables when looking at human behavior and instead look at incentives and punishment. Lot simpler.